In Wānaka, a crowd of more than 300 people marched through the town centre from noon, many carrying placards bearing slogans similar to those seen in Dunedin.
Monique Mayze, chairwoman of the steering committee for advocacy group Health Action Wānaka (HAW), told the Otago Daily Times the turnout was a "pretty amazing show" given the march had been organised at very short notice.
"There’s a lot of concern out there ... it’s our closest tertiary hospital so there are some special services that we can’t get here."
She criticised the government’s assertion the original hospital could not be fully funded without taking away funding for healthcare services in other parts of the country.
"No, sorry. That’s not how it works. All New Zealanders should have access to high-quality, equitable healthcare.
"The government’s job is to figure out how to do that. Don’t pit us against each other, it’s not right.
"We don’t want anyone else to lose out because we have something; we want everyone to get what they need."
Queenstown Lakes District deputy mayor Quentin Smith, who also attended the march, said it had been important for him "to support the community in the fight for getting decent health facilities in our region.
"I’ve had firsthand experiences with both the buildings and the under-resourced services in Dunedin which weren’t satisfactory in my view."
He said the government had so far failed to express any actual plan for providing healthcare services in the region, a move that was likely only "kicking the can down the road".
"Cutting the building in half doesn’t get us any closer to solving the problem.
"If they’ve got a different way or a cheaper way to solve it, they better tell us about it."
